Your 2025 Carolina Mudcats

[Jim Goulart]

Mudcats' Opening Night is Friday 4/4 - at home vs. Fredericksburg (Nationals).

The eventual Carolina formal roster announcement will come directly from the Mudcats, not the Brewers, once the Brewers have given the Mudcats the official go-ahead to do so.

Feel free to link to any formal Mudcats notices you see.

Sometimes, but not as often as we used to, we learn via player social media, who has been assigned where, prior to the formal affiliate announcements. We'll link to any of those posts in this thread as they come out.

As you might know, we use the "Your 2025" team threads to post and link to feature stories, including audio and video, that are outside the scope of game activity covered in the Daily Minor League Link Report.

These threads have become among the most popular for viewing here.

Please do not speculate on any player releases. Brewers Player Development or MiLB.com will update us formally.

[MudcatsfaninBrunsCO]

I'm bittersweet about this season to be honest, I love the Mudcats... Five County has a special place in my heart, The logo is awesome, Fans are so fun, The freedom to easily move around, I'm just going to miss them. With this thread kicked off, I guess the countdown is on to the last ever game the Single-A team of the Brewers play in Zebulon, NC. August 31th 2025, try to fly or come on out to be there!

[MudcatsfaninBrunsCO]

Sadly I can't make the final game this year due to something. I would love to have someone go to Five County and cover it aka take some pics and post them

[sveumrules]

Hey @MudcatsfaninBrunsCO, I was looking to maybe hit up some games this summer for the last season at Five County, but Google Maps is telling me the closest hotel is like a 15 minute drive away in Knightdale or Wilson.

You know of any place closer or within walking distance of the stadium? 

[MudcatsfaninBrunsCO]

22 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Hey @MudcatsfaninBrunsCO, I was looking to maybe hit up some games this summer for the last season at Five County, but Google Maps is telling me the closest hotel is like a 15 minute drive away in Knightdale or Wilson.

You know of any place closer or within walking distance of the stadium? 

So Five County is pretty much in the middle of no where. It's across from U.S Foods. This is the closest one I could find. It's 17 minutes from Zebulon. We have awesome giveaways this year including a "Final Tour" shirt April 12th or the Brew Crew inspired teal jersey June 21st. Hope this helps! 

[wibadgers23]

 

[Ro Mueller]

SS Jesus Made (17), INF Luis Pena (18), OF Braylon Payne (18), RHP Bryce Meccage (19), 3B/1B Eric Bitonti (19), C Marco Dinges (21) and 2B Josh Adamczewski (19) headline the Mudcats’ Season Opening Roster, but don’t sleep on 18-year old RHP Melvin Hernandez and 21-year old Jack Hostetler: 

[Ro Mueller]

 

[Ro Mueller]

 

[Joseph Zarr]

With all the negative happenings with the Brewers over the past month, I can rest easy into the official beginning of the full-season LHP Wande Torres era. I'm going to clutch his early outings like a mama Bear and her first born cub. 😅

[biedergb]

Interesting that Johan Barrios did not make the Carolina roster. Tyler Rodriguez as well. Both had good showings at the ACL summer league, so either injury (boy that has been typed way too much this month), poor showing, or just a roster crunch. If the latter - Walling and DiTuri have better show up or they both risk being left behind (moved down or released).

Excited to see Wande Torres and Bryce Meccage make the team, plus several drafted and non-drafted pitchers from last season (T. Smith, Holobetz as other draftees; Gills, Langhorne, Hostetler, Seppings, Hodges).

Odd that no DeBerry is there. Odd that Timmerman is still in low A, being joined by '23 HS draftee Bjorn Johnson.

[MudcatsfaninBrunsCO]

18 hours ago, wibadgers23 said:

 

Very happy this is out! wearing all mudcats all week!!!

[Ro Mueller]

17 hours ago, biedergb said:

Interesting that Johan Barrios did not make the Carolina roster. Tyler Rodriguez as well. Both had good showings at the ACL summer league, so either injury (boy that has been typed way too much this month), poor showing, or just a roster crunch. If the latter - Walling and DiTuri have better show up or they both risk being left behind (moved down or released).

Excited to see Wande Torres and Bryce Meccage make the team, plus several drafted and non-drafted pitchers from last season (T. Smith, Holobetz as other draftees; Gills, Langhorne, Hostetler, Seppings, Hodges).

Odd that no DeBerry is there. Odd that Timmerman is still in low A, being joined by '23 HS draftee Bjorn Johnson.

I figure it’s a ripple effect roster crunch: Areinamo and Eduardo Garcia are in High-A; Josh Adamczewski and Eric Bitonti are in Low-A. That pushes 2 players to remain in Extended Spring Training.

And I don’t believe we saw DeBerry in any of the MILB Spring Training lineups. That’s worrisome, since he’s already 22 years old and has yet to make his MILB debut.

Timmerman’s only played one game above Low-A ball and is still younger than Gillis, Garcia, Seppings and Holobetz, so I guess he won’t be out of place.

Hopefully Peek (solid in AA in 2022 before injuries) and Fitzpatrick (2.69 ERA in High-A last year) can earn quick promotions to AA ball, so other promotions can happen in their wake.

[MudcatsfaninBrunsCO]

Media Day is tomorrow starting at 4:00pm from Five County Stadium with a team workout starting at 6:15! 

[MudcatsfaninBrunsCO]

The 2025 Opening Night roster is out now! Opening night is tomorrow from Five County to kick off the 35th and final Mudcats season in Zebulon, North Carolina!

[Ro Mueller]

Carolina has rolled out its scheduled starters for Opening Weekend:

- Friday: RHP Jack Hostetler
- Saturday: RHP Bryce Meccage
- Sunday: RHP Travis Smith

[Jim Goulart]

 

[Jim Goulart]

 

[biedergb]

@Joseph Zarr will enjoy this one, and it is fitting considering what is the previous post above.

BA listed "10 Low-A MLB Prospects Ready To Rise Up Rankings In 2025". And Luis Pena makes the list of potential top-100 players, along with Eric Bitonti, which shows how good that team is with Braylon Payne and Jesus Made as highly ranked prospects who are already on BA lists.

But among the Sleeper Prospects ... none other than Josh Adamczewski.

It is BA+ and behind paywall but here is the link for those with subscriptions:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/10-low-a-mlb-prospects-ready-to-rise-up-rankings-in-2025/

 

I will defer to moderators if I can cut and paste some of what they wrote (like a sentence or parts of sentences), or if I can paraphrase it if needed too.

 

[sveumrules]

4 minutes ago, biedergb said:

I will defer to moderators if I can cut and paste some of what they wrote (like a sentence or parts of sentences), or if I can paraphrase it if needed too.

It's fine to post excerpts or to paraphrase subscriber content.

[biedergb]

Bitonti:

They speak about his power and swing, which many of us know, and that he is pushed off 3B due to the players who play on the IF (Made, Pena, DiTurri), and summarize with the following excerpts:

"Even if the Brewers do keep Bitonti at first base, the offensive upside is there for him to handle that position. .... It’s a risky profile, but there’s potential for big payoff if everything clicks."

Pena:

"Peña’s barrel accuracy stands out, as he rarely swings and misses—in or out of the zone—though one of the big questions with him was whether he would be able to develop a more disciplined approach."

And one of the things I've noticed:  "He’s a good athlete, but early on, he has shown he will have to clean some things up defensively—both with both his fielding and throwing—to stick in the infield"

Adamczewski:

"He had a lower profile coming out of an Indiana high school as a Ball State commit who the Brewers drafted as a 15th-round pick in 2023 .... Adamczewski has a lefthanded stroke that’s calm, balanced and adjustable, bringing a hit-over-power profile with enough juice to give him a chance for 15-20 home runs."

 

Hopefully that is good info, and within guidelines, as I only took about a sentence and a half from 2 paragraph reviews on all 3 players.

[Ro Mueller]

I assume it’s okay to speculate on possible Made/Pena promotions here, based on recent track record:

- Chourio promoted to High-A Wisconsin July 25, 2023
- Lara promoted to High-A Wisconsin August 14, 2023
- Yophery promoted to High-A Wisconsin September 15, 2024

Enjoy them in Zebulon while you can!

[Playing Catch]

I can't remember ever being this optimistic about MLB outcomes for an A-ball team.

[biedergb]

2 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

I can't remember ever being this optimistic about MLB outcomes for an A-ball team.

There is truth and humor in that statement.

From a ceiling, athleticism and raw tools standpoint, yes. Enough mixture of raw stuff and productivity at a young age to be optimistic. I suspect a few of these young kids will make it, and while I want all of them to, realistically 2-3 max.

[MudcatsfaninBrunsCO]

9 hours ago, Ro Mueller said:

I assume it’s okay to speculate on possible Made/Pena promotions here, based on recent track record:

- Chourio promoted to High-A Wisconsin July 25, 2023
- Lara promoted to High-A Wisconsin August 14, 2023
- Yophery promoted to High-A Wisconsin September 15, 2024

Enjoy them in Zebulon while you can!

I am for sure! Attending my 2nd game already this season tomorrow!